Sunday, November 4, 2018

Solidarity Shabbat After the Pittsburgh Tragedy

Parashat
Chaye Sarah

Rabbi Joseph R. Black, Temple Emanuel –
Denver, CO

November 2, 2018

Where were you last Saturday?

How did you hear about the
tragic events that took place in Pittsburgh?

I was sitting in our Chapel, celebrating the Bat
Mitzvah of a wonderful young girl when my Apple Watch started to buzz
frantically with texts from colleagues, family members and concerned
congregants. I normally do not respond to text messages in the middle of a
service – unless I am texting our Executive Director Steve Stark to tell him that it’s too hot or too
cold in the chapel….This time I stepped
out and looked at the news.

When I saw that there was a mass shooting at a
Synagogue, my blood ran cold. While the final tally of destruction had not yet
been posted at that time, it was clear that what was taking place was going to
be horrific and life-changing for the American Jewish community.During the service, I briefly shared what
news I had learned to those present. When we took out the Shoah Scroll and told
the story of its journey from Kolin, to a warehouse in Prague, to the
Westminster Synagogue in London, England, and eventually here to Temple Emanuel
– where it was placed in the very ark that where it began– and ended up as the
spiritual center or our congregation – the raw emotions that I was experiencing
were shared by everyone in our chapel.

And so now we sit – one week later – after so many
things have transpired: here in our community and around the country. In a
little more than 24 hours after news of the shooting reached us, our community
rallied and together with the ADL, Jewish Colorado and the Rocky Mountain
Rabbinical Council, we put together a Solidarity Vigil in which over 3,000
souls came together in this sanctuary – and overflowing into our foyer and
Social Hall. To see representatives from the Christian, Muslim and Sikh
communities joining together on our Bema - along with the leadership of our
city and State and Federal government and law enforcement was overwhelming. The
tears that flowed, the powerful words that were shared, the anger angst and
love combined with grief that filled our sacred space provided a necessary
space and time to process and express our feelings. In the days following the
Vigil, we have received hundreds of calls, letters, flowers, emails and visits
from well-wishers from multiple communities who wanted to show their love and
support to the Jewish people. Truly, this is a time of both horror and wonder
as we have witnessed both the worst and the best of humanity coming together at
one and the same time.

Even though the last of the funerals for the victims
of this shooting was today, Jews around the world have been mourning since we
received word of this horror. In Jewish tradition, after 7 days of mourning, we
symbolically rise from our mourning and conclude Shiva. This Shabbat, we join
with synagogues around the world as we come together in our grief and
solidarity to remember our dead, recite the mourner’s kaddish and look ahead to
the future.

As I thought about what I might say tonight at this
service, I looked into this week’s Torah portion, Chaye Sarah.

Like many portions in the book of Genesis, Chaye Sarah has multiple stories that
are woven into the narrative.It begins
with the death of Sarah and ends with the death of Abraham.Abraham purchases the cave of Machpelah in
Hebron.He then sends his servant to
Canaan to find a wife for Isaac. At the end of the parasha, Abraham dies.

Our text reads as follows:

Genesis
25:8-10:“Then
Abraham passed on, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years;
and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in
the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite,
which is before Mamre; The field which Abraham purchased from the Hittites;
there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.”

One of the most remarkable aspects of this text is the
fact that Isaac and Ishmael bury their father together.If you recall, the last we have heard of
Ishmael was when Abraham sent him and his mother, Hagar, out into the
wilderness because Sarah did not want Ishmael to be a threat to Isaac and his
eventual birthright.Abraham had scarred
Ishmael by casting him away.He also had
scarred Isaac by almost slaughtering him on Mt. Moriah.

Abraham’s death unites these two brothers.They both understand pain.They both understand loss.They both realize that, no matter what events
have taken place in their lives, they are bound together by a common task and
purpose.

Isaac and Ishmael had cause to hate their father –and
to hate each other.The Midrash, in
particular is filled with stories of their warfare.Yet, at the end of our parasha they come
together in peace in order to bury Abraham. They realize that, despite their
history, they are linked together. In burying Abraham, they are also
symbolically burying the past and moving ahead to the future.

If there is anything that we can learn from this
horrible tragedy, it may be found in the outpouring of love and solidarity that
we experienced on Sunday.I truly
believe that is a reflection of the best that our nation has to offer. So much
of the language we are hearing is divisive; the politics of isolationism and
victimization have taken a toll on our souls. Especially in the days leading up
to November 6 – election day-everyone
is on edge. To see people from multiple communities coming together to show
their love and support in the shadow of terror is both an affirmation of what
we, as a nation are all about and a powerful reflection of how we, like Isaac
and Ishmael, can rise up above our divisions in solidarity and celebrate the
awareness that we are all created in the image of God.

Tonight is November 2th. In one week, November 9th,
2018, we will be commemorating the 80th Anniversary of Kristallnacht
– the night of the Broken Glass.Kristallnacht was the beginning of the end of European Jewry.

On that night, 80 years ago, Nazi thugs burned
synagogues and destroyed Jewish businesses throughout Germany and Austria.Jews were beaten publicly in the
streets.Men were rounded up and sent to
concentration camps.Hitler and his
thugs waited to see what the reaction would be from world leaders.The deafening silence that ensued in the
shadow of terror was a clear sign to the Nazis that they had a green light to
take whatever steps they wanted to rid the world of the “Jewish problem.”

My mother and her parents lived through
Krystallnacht.They were among the lucky
ones.One month later they were able to
get a visa out of Germany and immigrate to the United States.

The memory of that night of terror is indelibly linked
into the consciousness of our people. From the pain and horror of November 9th
and the darkness and evil that it spawned, we have emerged - wounded, yet determined
to honor the memory of those who perished in the Shoah and rebuild our lives,
our people and our homeland.

Like Isaac and Ishmael – we were and are united by our
grief and our loss.

If we can survive and thrive in the aftermath of that historical and spiritual darkness,
how much the more so are we obligated to persevere in the shadow of the Tree of
Life Synagogue massacre?

Let us have no illusions. The battle against evil is
not over. The haters who have become emboldened in recent months will not
disappear overnight. They will lie beneath the surface as they always have –
waiting for the next opportunity to strike. We must remain vigilant and
defiant. We know that though there are those who seek to use violence fear and
intimidation to accomplish their ends – we, as a people and nation must never
allow hatred to determine the path along which we walk together.

Now is a time to come together and find unity in our
historical memory and the vision of a world that , while incomplete, awaits for
each of us to use our talents, strengths and faith to perfect God’s Creation.

We owe it to ourselves.

We owe it to the memory of
those who are no longer with us

We owe it to our nation to move on from our divisions
and focus on ways that we can work to perform the mitzvah of Tikkun Olam – of repairing our all too
imperfect world.

Zichronam Livracha – may the memory of the righteous
be for an eternal blessing. AMEN